Artemis Accords

SpaceX’s Falcon 9 launched NASA’s TRACERS mission from Vandenberg Space Force Base on July 23 at 2:13 p.m. EDT. The Falcon 9 first stage was on its 16th flight and performed a pinpoint landing at Vandenberg, marking SpaceX’s 479th booster recovery. TRACERS, Tandem Reconnection and Cusp Electrodynamics Reconnaissance Satellites, consists of two 200-kg satellites to study magnetic reconnection in Earth’s magnetosphere. Five small rideshare satellites accompanied TRACERS carrying experiments such as next-generation communication terminals and Earth radiation budget sensors. In the U.S., House appropriators on July 23 directed NASA to study alternatives to the SLS’s planned Exploration Upper Stage for